Recap of Cecelia’s Presentation to the Guild
Our Oct 5 guest was the influential Cecelia Campochiaro; we have been lucky enough to host her in person and virtually. Cecelia is from a family of artists and has been knitting since the age of 12. She walked us through the design process for some of her popular patterns sharing the inspiration for each creation and how she came up with the interesting names of the patterns. Cecilia began her Sequence Knitting process after knitting the “One Row Handspun Scarf” by Stephanie Pearl McPhee (Yarn Harlot) with Noro and seeing how color played out combined with a Catherine Lowe class on the importance of construction. She conceptualized using simple methods for creating complex fabrics. Sequence Knitting takes a sequence plus a rule to create a texture. By shifting a one row pattern one stich you get a whole new texture. Sequence Knitting tends to lay flat since you repeat the sequence on both sides. Next Cecilia began experimenting with making marls and discovered that she could control the color by plying two colors together. She spent time studying the light and dark value of colors in her blending process. She also developed a system of micro swatching (postage stamp size) to see how colors interact.
Cecilia’s first book titled Sequence Knitting was published in 2015; she felt the book allowed her to explain Sequence Knitting in a cohesive way. Her next book Making Marls was published in 2020 and explores combining colored strands to create a variety of marls. Cecilia is a trained Spectroscopist, the study of breaking light from material into component colors. Her influences are from Kaffe Fassett and Catherine Lowe. Her newest patterns are garments, a possible new direction?
Cecelia’s website is ceceliacampochiaro.com
— Lou Wanna Katz, Programs
Screen shots from the October Guild meeting – click on any photo to enlarge.
